The Call of Sedona, Travel, Sedona, Books, Nature, Inspiration, Arizona

Chapter 1

THE DAWN OF A NEW ENLIGHTENMENT

In early 1996, 1 was reading a newspaper in Los Angeles when I saw a photo that immediately grabbed my attention. “Hey, where is this place?” I asked. The red rocks were so real they felt like they might jump out of the paper at me. I read the caption beneath the photo and learned it was a place called Sedona, in the state of Arizona.

I couldn’t get there fast enough; I wanted to see those red rocks, so I asked an acquaintance to come with me. It was a long drive of nearly eight hours. We cruised along from Los Angeles to Flagstaff until we came to Sedona. It was the middle of the night, so we settled into a motel that hugged Oak Creek Canyon.

It was a dark night, so there was little chance to see the scenery aside from the sparkling stars that filled the night sky with their refreshing twinkling. I wondered what Sedona would look like when I opened my eyes in the morning. As I filled my lungs with its clean, crisp air, I went to sleep with excitement and anticipation in my heart.

As soon as I opened my eyes the next morning, I threw back the curtains. The view was of a mountain of blended red and white rocks, standing tall above the verdant juniper trees. At the top of the mountain were large and small rocks shaped like various animals. Then I saw one that caught my attention. At a flat part on the top, there was a modest rock whose form resembled a person meditating while seated in the lotus position.

I thought to myself, “Wow, even the rocks in Sedona meditate!”

I couldn’t tell whether that was true or if those were the only rocks my eyes could see, no matter where I looked, but my initial feeling was very good.

After a simple breakfast, I wandered about Sedona, here and there, wherever I felt like going. It seemed like the entire city was embraced by arms of red rock. The green of the junipers and cacti that dotted the red turf proffered a dramatic contrast of color. The sky of Sedona, wrapped around the red burnt earth, seemed clearer and bluer than any sky I’d seen. There was a sanctity circulating in the air between earth and heaven. Though it was winter, warm sunlight was shining down through the clear air. As I looked at the dazzling beauty of Sedona’s earth and sky awash with the morning sun, my heart skipped a beat, and it occurred to me that this just might be the place for which I had been searching for so long.

I came to the US from Korea in 1993 to share the traditional Korean mind-body training methods known as Dahnhak (which became Dahn Yoga in the US). At the time, the Dahn Centers that I had established in Korea had increased to around fifty and I was sharing a modernized and systematized form of Dahnhak with many people.

I handed over the management of the Korean DahnCenters to my students and started anew in the US with a pioneering spirit. The place where I first settled with my students was NewJersey. It was not easy, however, to put our roots down in a land where the culture and even the language were so unfamiliar. Our first attempts were ones of trial and error.

During that time, I would sometimes walk on the banks of a lake near Bear Mountain, New York. One day, as I gazed out across the surface of the lake reflecting the light of the setting sun, I asked myself, “What should I do?” What occurred to me then was that I should get to know the US inside and out. I felt that I really needed to experience the US for myself, with my own two eyes and feet.

I decided to get a car and travel across the country from east to west. Our itinerary would take us from New York to California, along the western coast up to Vancouver, through Toronto, and then back to New York. For several months, I wandered through the beautiful mountains and valleys of the US. I went inside the busy metropolitan areas as well, and felt the confusion of their people’s hearts. It was a good opportunity for me to feel the energy of this massive land with my own body, mind, and senses.

As I crossed the country, there was one thing I waslooking for: a new land where I could put down my roots and thrive. The moment I saw Sedona, I felt a strong intuition that this would be that very place. However, although I stayed in Sedona for three days, I was still unable to make a final decision.

One of the reasons I hesitated was that Sedona wasa desert. According to the Eastern practice of fengshui, a harmony of the five energies—wood, fire, earth, metal, and water—is essential.

Certainly, wood energy was coming from the forestsof juniper trees and shrubs; there was obviously plenty offire energy since it was a desert where the sun beat down strongly; judging by the power pouring from the ground of Sedona, nothing needed to be said about earth energy; and since it was iron that gave to the earth its deep red color, it was also full of metal energy. However, since it was a desert terrain where water was scarce, the thought that water energy might be insufficient kept bothering me.

I went back to Los Angeles and returned to Sedona aftera few days. It was then I saw something that blew away all my concerns—Oak Creek Canyon, where the creek flowed right alongside the highway going up from Sedona to Flagstaff. During my first visit I couldn’t see it closely, but there was clear water flowing abundantly through the canyon. I realized then that Sedona had the necessary amount of water energy, too. With this in mind, I found a desire to make a new startin Sedona where, although it was desert terrain, the energy of the five elements were harmonized so well. And I startedto feel certain that, in a place like this, I could establish the meditation center of which I had dreamed.

It took me a few more days to look around the Native American reservations and nearby famous locations in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. I also visited Lake Powell, Rainbow Bridge, the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, and the canyons of Zion National Park. All of them were places that had not only been regarded as sacred by Native Americans, but also displayed the beauty and dignity of nature without restraint. I was also pleased with the fact that Sedona was not too far from many of these places. Having resolved upon my second visit to move there, I now rented a modest place that I could use as a home and office.

As I drove back to Los Angeles to prepare for mymove, I had a premonition that something good was going to happen, and I felt a nervous excitement. I kept repeating the name of the land, “Sedona,” over and over in my mind. Se-do-na.

Se-do-na. Se. . . do. . . na. Then, all of a sudden, a thought came to my mind: Se-do-na, a place where a new Tao or enlightenment would emerge. Viewing these syllables in Korean, Se sounds like sae and means “new”; do means “Tao” or “enlightenment”; and na means “is coming out.” If you put the three parts together, then Sedona means “the land where a new enlightenment will emerge.”

From that point onward, every time I pronounced Sedona’s name, every time I told other people about Sedona,and every time I practiced meditation in Sedona, I started to believe that a new enlightenment would arise from this place. That was my belief and it was also my profound hope. And this is how my Sedona story began.

Chapter 2

A LAND OF YEARNINGS AND DREAMS

Every land has a sacred mountain or a place of wonder where people gather, drawn by the extraordinary energy there. Sedona is no different. I have traveled to many sacred places around the world, including those in India, Nepal, Israel, South America, and Europe, but I have yet to encounter a place that draws the heart as does Sedona. This is already the fifteenth year that I’ve been living here, but the red rocks and sunsets that I see here still move my heart in a continually fresh way.

Sedona is a small city in the center of Arizona, a state located in the desert of the southwestern United States. It’s about two hours by car from the Grand Canyon and about 120 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona’s capital. It’s often referred to as “red rock country” because of its monumental landscape of red rock. As you enter the city, you’ll see why locals like to say, “God created the Grand Canyon, but He lives in Sedona.”

One might assume that Sedona is a place of swelteringheat because of its desert location, but in fact there are four beautiful seasons. In the spring, the dry fields are blanketed with wildflowers. In the fall, the leaves turn and flood the Oak Creek Canyon with orange and golden yellow foliage. Winter is equally beautiful in Sedona. The sight of fluffy white snow piling softly on the red rocks is exquisite; and when the snow stops falling and the sun comes out, the red rocks, green cacti, and blue sky radiate their own dazzling light. When you see such sights, you understand why people call Sedona “The City of Light,” and you find yourself nodding your head in agreement.

Though Sedona has a population of about 10,000 people, more than three million tourists come here each year. However, unlike the usual tourist locations, Sedona is a very quiet city. Most of the restaurants and stores close by 9:00 p.m. It’s a city that couldn’t be more boring for people who are looking for nightlife. But for people who know the joy of communing with nature, it’s a place that often gives them the irresistible urge to pack their things and move here at once. Actually, a considerable number of Sedona residents first came as tourists and fell in love with the place.

Sedona was registered as a city in 1902, taking its name from the wife of the white settler who was head of the first post office.

According to archaeologists who research ancient Native Americans sites, the Native Americans who lived in northern Arizona for thousands of years have long regarded Sedona and its surrounding Oak Creek Canyon as an especially sacred place. The Native American sites discovered here are not centered on Sedona; instead they encircle it.The Native Americans visited Sedona only when they were conducting rituals or religious ceremonies. Even today, just as Hindus make a pilgrimage to the Ganges River, several Yavapai and Apache tribes come to Sedona to perform traditional ceremonies and blessings.

Sedona is also a haven for artists and art lovers. It hostssome forty art galleries. From galleries to studios, art is everywhere in this small town. Sedona is truly the perfect city for artistic inspiration. In Sedona, everyone naturally feels the urge to paint a picture or play a flute. Standing before a display of the beautiful artistry of nature, human beings want to dance and sing and demonstrate their own creativity as well. Although I had never played music, evenI learned to play the flute and do calligraphy here.

One of the things you can never leave out when speaking about Sedona are its vortexes. A vortex describes the energy field of an object rotating in a spiral around a central axis. Examples include a tornado, or water forming a whirlpool as it goes down a drain. Actually, from the smallest atoms to the Milky Way, we find that our universe is full of vortexes.

Vortex sites in Sedona are powerful energy spots that facilitate self—awareness and various healing experiences. They say the red iron rocks generate this kind of energy, as well as the massive crystals buried beneath them. Bell Rock, Airport Mesa, Cathedral Rock, and Boynton Canyon are known as four major vortexes. But in my experience, it’s not just these four places; Sedona itself is a vortex. Every time I return to it, I am surprised to feel how much energy is here.

The Native Americans called Sedona “the land where Mother Earth’s energy, which gives eternal life, comes out.” Furthermore, they believed that “great souls” inhabit the red rocks, and that they make the people who come and find Sedona awaken to their true dreams and yearnings.

I believe these legends are not merely wishful thinking.That’s because I, too, have met with great souls from the red rocks of Sedona, and have cultivated here my yearnings and dreams.